Reverend Brewmeister, you forgot one more thing that's going to suck: April 6, 2012, the Brewers' next game - UNLESS Brewers fans get it together and don't sell out to STL fans who will be all too eager to flaunt their 2011 world champion crap in our faces, in our ballpark. Indeed, I will be only mildly surprised if the Cardinals don't petition MLB to let them have their ring ceremony or whatever on the MP grass, just to show Milwaukee.

Ahem. OK. I guess there's a degree of solace to be had in losing to the "eventual champion" (though that loses its sheen after the third time, or fourth if it also happened in 1981). Just as I've often said on this forum and in the chat room, STL 'tis no team, 'tis a remorseless baseball machine - and it's possible they were simply a juggernaut that couldn't be stopped down the stretch. That they stopped PHI first supports that theory.

I agree with pitchleague that Nyjer's infamous tweets may well have been the spark that got STL going. All a spark really had to do was get TLR going, because he is a most able motivator (even if I don't think he always uses his motivational skills for good). I won't blame the season outcome on Nyjer, but I'll be happier going forward if the Brewers can avoid that kind of trash talk.

I'm oddly OK with David Freese's success in the postseason. There are a lot of more vexing options on that roster. For his sake, I hope he doesn't get sucked into the cult of TLR.

Hot Stove programming on MLB Network begins on Monday. See you there.